THE ARAB STOCK 167 



horses, the " Byerly Turk," the " Darley Arabian' 1 

 (pi. xiv. fig. i), and the "Godolphin Barb," that the 

 evolution of the modern thoroughbred is mainly due. 

 The " Byerly Turk," taking his name from Captain 

 Byerly, his owner, was imported in 1689; and 

 from him was descended " Herod," who gave his 

 name to one of the three great lines of English 

 racing stock. The " Darley Arabian " was pur- 

 chased in Aleppo during the reign of Queen Anne 

 by the brother of his owner, Mr. Darley, of Aldby 

 Park, Yorkshire in 1702. 1 He gave rise to " Flying 

 Childers," and " Harriett's Childers," from the latter 

 of whom the famous " Eclipse," the great-great- 

 grandson of the " Darley Arabian," and the founder 

 of the Eclipse line, was descended. " Persimmon " 

 (pi. xiv. fig. 2), owned by King Edward VII., 

 was a direct descendant of " Eclipse, " and affords 

 an example of the. great increase which has taken 

 place in the stature of racehorses ; his shoulder- 

 height being 16^ hands, whereas that of " Eclipse," 

 who was considered an unusually big horse for his 

 time, was only about 15^ hands. 



" Persimmon" was foaled in 1893; his sire 

 being " St. Simon," and his dam " Perdita II." 

 He was winner of the Derby and the St. Leger 

 in 1896, and of the Ascot Gold Cup and 



1 The date is usually given as 1710, but the picture at Aldby 

 Park from which pi. xiv. fig. i is copied, is inscribed 1702. 



